Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
Hunter Branch Meeting 2024-2 of the Royal Society of NSW — 11 April 2024
"Conservation, Frogs, and Citizen Science"
Honorary Professor Michael Mahony AM
School of Environmental and Life Sciences
University of Newcastle
https://royalsoc.org.au/blog/hunter-branch-meeting-2024-2
The presentation commences at 00:45
Timing Marks:
00:00:00 Introduction to the Speaker: Emeritus Professor George Willis FRSN FAA, Chair, RSNSW Hunter Branch
00:00:45 Presentation: Honorary Professor Michael Mahony
00:53:36 Q&A Session: moderated by Emeritus Professor George Willis
01:19:23 Meeting Close
Summary: In this Royal Society of New South Wales Lecture, internationally renowned biologist Professor Mahony will address the need to manage threatening processes that bring species to extinction. He will use amphibians as an illuminating case study noting in our lifetime that more than 120 species have disappeared worldwide out of approximately 4000, and in Australia seven species are extinct and many are now endangered. Surveillance and prevention of loss among around 400 native species appears to be beyond us. However, he will discuss how advances in communication technologies — smartphones and AI — have empowered thousands of citizens to be engaged in conservation, bringing a new constituency that is engaged.
Michael Mahony AM is a conservation biologist with particular interests in amphibians, environmental policy, and planning. Michael has discovered and described over 20 species of Australian frogs and has made notable contributions to the discovery that disease is a primary driver of frog declines and extinctions in Australia, and the impact of climate change and indirect events such as wildfires. His work focused on methods to mitigate impacts. He has contributed to conservation policy as a member of the Species Survival Commission (IUCN), advised NGOs (WWF, Australian Frog Program; bushfire impact assessment), and statutory bodies including NSW NPWS Advisory Committee, Commonwealth Department of Environment, NSW DOE and Queensland DOE, and the Gondwanan Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area Technical and Scientific Committee.
Hunter Branch Meeting 2024-2 of the Royal Society of NSW — 11 April 2024
"Conservation, Frogs, and Citizen Science"
Honorary Professor Michael Mahony AM
School of Environmental and Life Sciences
University of Newcastle
https://royalsoc.org.au/blog/hunter-branch-meeting-2024-2
The presentation commences at 00:45
Timing Marks:
00:00:00 Introduction to the Speaker: Emeritus Professor George Willis FRSN FAA, Chair, RSNSW Hunter Branch
00:00:45 Presentation: Honorary Professor Michael Mahony
00:53:36 Q&A Session: moderated by Emeritus Professor George Willis
01:19:23 Meeting Close
Summary: In this Royal Society of New South Wales Lecture, internationally renowned biologist Professor Mahony will address the need to manage threatening processes that bring species to extinction. He will use amphibians as an illuminating case study noting in our lifetime that more than 120 species have disappeared worldwide out of approximately 4000, and in Australia seven species are extinct and many are now endangered. Surveillance and prevention of loss among around 400 native species appears to be beyond us. However, he will discuss how advances in communication technologies — smartphones and AI — have empowered thousands of citizens to be engaged in conservation, bringing a new constituency that is engaged.
Michael Mahony AM is a conservation biologist with particular interests in amphibians, environmental policy, and planning. Michael has discovered and described over 20 species of Australian frogs and has made notable contributions to the discovery that disease is a primary driver of frog declines and extinctions in Australia, and the impact of climate change and indirect events such as wildfires. His work focused on methods to mitigate impacts. He has contributed to conservation policy as a member of the Species Survival Commission (IUCN), advised NGOs (WWF, Australian Frog Program; bushfire impact assessment), and statutory bodies including NSW NPWS Advisory Committee, Commonwealth Department of Environment, NSW DOE and Queensland DOE, and the Gondwanan Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area Technical and Scientific Committee.
